The present invention relates broadly to insect traps and more particularly to a trap for catching fleas utilizing a light emitting source that is activated to act as a lure.
Insects are known to be attracted to light and illuminated traps for attracting and trapping flying insects are known in the art. An example of this type of trap is Boobar et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,789 which teaches a trap for flying insects that is tripod mounted and utilizes a suction fan to prevent flying insects which have been attracted to the light from leaving the trapping area. The suction fan also chops the insects to bits and deposits the remains in a receptacle provided therefor. Fleas, unlike flying insects, move by leaping or hopping from position to position because they are wingless. Therefore, a trap for fleas must take into account considerations that are not relevant to traps for flying insects. For example, a flea trap must be accessible to fleas that hop from a source such as a carpet infested therewith.
Accordingly, traps for capturing fleas typically must sit on or near the floor and provide easy access for hopping fleas. Traps of this type include Justice U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,220 which utilizes a pan containing a sticky liquid, having a cover and an energized green light source attached to the cover. Other examples include Williams U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,506 and Williams U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,789. These traps use a shallow pan having a cover mounted in spaced vertical relation with the pan and a light source mounted to the cover.
While the prior art traps perform admirably, improvements can be made in both operational performance and manufacturing efficiency. The opaque cover blocks light and therefore may hinder the attraction of insects to the trap. If the trap could be further illuminated, insect attraction could be enhanced. With regard to manufacturing concerns, by using different configurations for the cover and the trapping pan, additional tooling and manufacturing steps are required. In addition, using separately constructed cover support legs, formed of a different material than the cover and trapping pan, results in still further tooling and materiel requirements.